Desperate Times
by alleycat174
Summary: Lines have been crossed and Champion Lyra Kotone won't take any more of it. In an effort to payback Team Rocket for everything they have put her through, she leaves her old life to go undercover. Desperate times call for desperate measures.
1. Chapter 1

"Here it is, Lance."

"Lyra, I don't want you to do this."

"I know," I said quietly, "but it's what I want."

"I know you're still hurting after what happened to your family and all, but I can help. Silver, however misguided he is sometimes, can help. Professor Ethan can help. A resignation isn't necessary."

I couldn't meet his eyes. Lance and I were friends. We had each other's backs, no matter what. A few times, I had even suspected that I felt more than just friendship. It had been three years since I had become Champion and three years was a long enough time to get to know someone you work with everyday. I was confident in saying that I knew pretty much everything about Lance the Dragon Master. "Lance, it is necessary. I can't do what I'm doing right now and expect to be okay. I have to sort a few things out. The one thing I do know is that I cannot perform my duties as a Champion anymore."

"Lyra, I know you," Lance shook his head, "Even though we're mostly rivals, we train together and we tell each other what's going on. You're not telling me everything. You're not planning on going after them on your own, are you? The people who killed your mom?"

"Lance, I'm not that stupid as to go on my own," I rolled my eyes, feeling my heart beating out of my chest. I should've known that he would guess it immediately. The pain from finding out about my mom had been erased by the sense of purpose I felt. All I knew was that they wouldn't get away with it. That was all I needed to know. Focusing on this made it less harsh. I almost didn't feel it at all sometimes, if I tried really hard.

"Promise me you won't," his face showed only concern and I felt horrible lying to him about this. But he didn't realize that this was only the beginning. Desperate times call for desperate measures and as the police were failing while the trail was getting cold, I couldn't stand by and let this go un-avenged. No one targets my loved ones. No one. What if next time it was Ethan? Or my older sister Julia? Or even Lance? Sure, he was the Champion and wasn't going to go down easy, but a thing like poison didn't care who was on the other end. There were things that I hadn't told even my closest friends, never mind the police, that I couldn't face. This was not a random killing. This was calculated and until I found out a way to stop it, it wasn't going to go away on its own.

"I promise, Lance," I replied, giving him a small smile, "Now can I go get the rest I most definitely deserve? Or are you questioning that too?"

"No," Lance made a face at me, "I know you need a break. But you can get that break without having to resign. Silver and I can take care of the duties for a while during the time you're gone." He handed my resignation back to me, shaking his head. "I won't accept it. Take your time off and do what you need to, but don't close this door completely."

I sighed, but decided not to push it. I would be giving my title soon anyway, involuntarily or not.

"And Lyra," Lance added, his face getting darkly serious, "You know that the offer I made you still stands. If you want me to go with you- I mean, we can disappear for a while and get down to the bottom of this together. It'll be like Lake of Rage all over again. I'd do it in a second if it was what you wanted."

"Lance," I shook my head, "I don't want to drag you with me into this mess. I'll be fine. And I'll steer clear of the whole thing."

"Don't forget about the promise you made," Lance reminded me, not letting this go, "And I'll see you soon. Hopefully."

"Yeah, well, I'll see you, Lance," I allowed myself a brief smile at him, surprised to find that I was almost sad to go. But I didn't have a choice. There were lines that had been crossed. And when Lance had made me promise him to stay safe, he had never said no crossies.

**Forty-eight hours before**

"Silver, I need your help."

"Oh, so you need my help."

"Yes."

"You, the great Lyra Kotone, need my help."

"That would be what I said."

"Well, gee, I just feel so honored that you asked, but I think I'd like to end this conversation right here."

"Silver!"

"Yes, Lyra?"

"I said I needed your help."

"And I politely declined. Why don't you go ask someone else? Like, oh, I don't know, maybe someone who actually likes you."

"I can't."

"Why not?"

"It's about my mom."

I saw Silver visibly flinch, although his expression didn't change. "So that changes things somehow?"

"Don't be dense, Silver, of course it does. You know it does." I crossed my arms, waiting him out. He flicked a look over at me, then looked away.

"I'm supposed to be on Champion duty, you know," he wouldn't look at me, instead choosing to keep a steady gaze on the door across the room, just in case anyone came in looking for a battle.

"Do I look like I care?" I shot back, getting a tiny bit irritated now. "Silver, you're the only person I can think of going to right now and you're killing me."

Silver raised an eyebrow, obviously trying to squirm out of this. "Can't you go bother someone else? What about Cape Guy? He'd love to help you. Cause I don't see myself benefitting in anyway by helping you."

"Because you're the only person I know that doesn't really care about what happens to me. And as far as getting something out of this, I'll step down as Champion," I retorted, giving him exactly what he wanted.

"Really?" I could see the wheels turning in Silver's head as he thought through the implications of this. He wanted to be the sole Champion like Lance was for the couple of years before Silver and I came. With me gone, that was just one more obstacle out of his way. Silver never did anything unless he was going to get something out of it. I'd figured that much out by now.

"Really," I replied steadily, watching his reaction.

"And you won't challenge the league again," Silver asked slyly, wanting to cover all his bases.

"No, I won't," I answered, "I swear on my Pokemon, I won't."

Silver nodded, looking thoughtful. "All right then, I'll do it. What do you need?"

"I need to disappear," I explained carefully, somewhat dancing around what I was trying to say, "Get off the map. Being Champion puts a lot of attention on you. I need space to operate and the space I have now is virtually zero. Once people hear that a Champion is missing, suspicion will be placed, and probably rightfully so. I need someone to cover for me back here and make sure no one suspects anything or tries to come after me and kill my cover."

"Lance," Silver grinned, understanding what I was saying, "You want me to baby-sit the so-called Dragon Master while you go off and find out who killed your mom. You gotta be kidding me."

"You know Lance. He's nosy. If he hears something about investigations or Team Rocket bases being blown up, he's gonna want in. I need you to try and keep him as busy as possible. Distract him. Do whatever you need to do. If you could discover a new Dragon type Pokemon in the next day or two, that would be great. If I want this to be believable, I need to tie up any loose ends. I can't risk my cover being blown. You have to control things for me out in the real world. That means no noisy publicity and no nosy Dragon Trainers."

"You think it's definitely Rocket?" Silver asked, an eyebrow raised questioningly.

"I'm almost positive," I replied, "And they're going to pay for what they did." I didn't tell him about the call I got. I didn't tell him about how this killing was a message to stay out of things this time around. I didn't tell him about how they threatened Ethan next. How easy, they said it would be, for a Pokemon Professor to wind up dead from the aftereffects of a dangerous experiment he shouldn't have been messing with. I couldn't lose Ethan, not so soon after my mom. But neither could I let them say whatever they wanted and do whatever they wanted without laying down the law. There was only one way to deflect all suspicion from myself.

"And I need your help with one more thing," I continued, not stopping there. I wasn't done, not yet. Silver was going to have to earn his keep if he wanted to get the reward. "I need you to help me fake my own death."

That got Silver's attention. "What?"

"You heard me," I answered steadily, "It's the only way to remove all suspicion. If I'm dead, I can't exactly blow up any bases, can I? And Team Rocket won't have an excuse to hurt the people I care about."

Silver sighed, looking for the first time ever like he actually had things to worry about. "What have I gotten myself into?"

"Enjoy it, Silver," I grinned, patting his arm, "It only gets better. Now, let me set a few things up now. I'll call you when I'm ready for you to do more."

"You're crazy, Lyra," Silver shook his head, "I swear."

"Don't swear, Silver," I grinned wickedly in reply, walking out of the Champion room. Things were just getting started.


	2. Chapter 2

**I realized that I forgot my disclaimer. Whoops. :) Well, I do not own Pokemon or Heart Gold or Lyra or Silver or Lance, although I kinda wish I did. And yeah. That's it. Also, while I may not have been too nice to Silver so far, he's growing on me. He's kind of a jerk though. Just thought I'd point that out. Okay. Enjoy!**

* * *

I took another glance into the mirror of Silver's house, where I was currently hidden. I was currently sitting in his living room, to be exact. Wow, this was weird. And I know that it was childish and silly to be worried about how I looked at a time like this, but I couldn't help it. Suicune, my hair was so short! My traditional pigtails were gone, replaced by a low ponytail, which was the only thing I could make work at the moment. My hair was darker too. I had shied away from bleaching it (blonde was just too eye-popping for me) and instead chose a shade of dark brown. Gone, as well, was the trademark hat, which I was going to miss so much. Silver promised to hang onto it for me, so at least it wasn't completely gone. My mom had given me that hat for my tenth birthday and I had worn it since. I had instead adopted navy ball cap of sorts which I was constantly pulling down over my eyes. Well, I was never going to be the most attractive girl in the room, but that wasn't what I wanted right now anyway. Actually, my plain girl-next-door type of look was perfect.

But I hated the different. Everything had to be different. Even my Pokemon. I had refused to let go of Cav, my Megamanium, or Luke, my Charizard. Cav was the Pokemon I started with and Luke was a gift from Lance after I became a Champion. He said that although he didn't think me fit yet for a Dragon-type, he didn't mind giving me a pseudo-Dragon type. In our next battle, I used Luke to beat his prized Dragonite. Shows him. From there, I had a whole new party, which was difficult to deal with sometimes. I had convinced Silver, somehow, to let me borrow his Gengar, which was the scariest and yet most effective Pokemon I'd ever seen. As for the remaining three, I had picked the highest level Pokemon I had that I hadn't used often. Sandslash, Gyarados (not the red one because I couldn't really attract any more attention than using that), and Jolteon fit the bill nicely for me. That way I could pose as a Kanto trainer, besides Cav, who I guess could be a gift from an older sister or something. I wasn't leaving him behind.

I flicked a look over at the TV, which was currently on Silver. I grinned. He could be quite a convincing actor when he wanted to be. Now he had everyone convinced about how we had been out for a training session when a horde of stampeding Tauros had caught us unaware and trampled right over me. Before anyone could do anything, my shirt got caught on the horn of a Tauros and I was dragged along and eventually flung off a nearby cliff, into a river, where I disappeared. Officials were looking for me, but the current was vicious out there and it was very likely I hadn't survived. Well, what do you know? I was on the news.

Next was a clip of the statement from Silver himself. I turned up the volume curiously. "It was an accident," Silver shook his head, calm, yet showing just the right amount of grief, "It could've happened to anyone. I just wish I could've done something to stop it, you know." The clip cut off and the news person came back on, looking solemn. She was buying into it all the way. Silver may not be the most charitable, but when you got his support, you felt it. As for how he is explaining this to Lance, I don't know, but it really wasn't any of my business. As long as the story worked, I didn't care.

"That was one of our Champion's take on the death of former Champion Lyra Kotone," the newsperson continued, "And as far as getting a hold of the other Champion, there's been no luck. Johto's Dragon Master hasn't made a public appearance since the announcement of Kotone's death. I'm sure he is mourning her in his own way, as will the rest of Johto at the news of one of Johto's finest being put to rest. This is Johto Channel 7 news and that's a wrap."

I turned off the TV, trying to avoid any guilt I felt. This was the best way to do things. I had to make things safe again. If Lance was taking this hard, that was his problem. I couldn't let anything distract me.

"I'm back from Champion duty," Silver called and a few seconds later I heard the front door slam shut, "Have they run my clip yet? I didn't miss it, did I?"

"You missed it," I announced, looking up as he came through the door.

He took one look at me and shook his head. "You know, you still look like Lyra Kotone. Changing your hair and clothes doesn't constitute cover."

I glared at him. "I did my best. What would you suggest anyway?"

"You really want my advice?" Silver asked critically, looking me up and down.

"Yes, I do," I replied, crossing my arms.

"Disguise yourself as a boy," Silver shrugged, walking toward the kitchen and getting himself a glass of water. "It diverts attention and makes you seem stronger. Besides," he gave me another one of those up and down looks, "You always did look kind of like a boy. Lose the pigtails and you and Ethan look almost identical from the back."

"If you are addressing my lack of curves, then I resent that statement," I answered crossly.

"Well, you always were kind of flat-chested," he stated, not even looking at me.

"Silver!"

"Lyra. If you want the truth, you come to me. That's why you did, right? And I'm telling you that you'd make a pretty convincing boy. And seeing as I already made a statement on national television that you fell to your death, there's no turning back now. So you either man up and do what's necessary or you chicken out and run home to Ethan, who seems to have become your new mommy. So if you want to do this right, you listen to what I say, okay?"

I was mad now. I was so insanely mad. I wanted to have Luke blast this guy into charcoal. I almost called him out, seeing as my hand strayed to his Pokeball, but I just looked at Silver coldly, making sure I got my message across. "Don't you ever, ever mention my mother ever again. You can say whatever the heck you want, seeing as you hate pretty much everyone in this world besides your Typhlosion, but don't you ever reference to her. Do you get me? Now let's keep this business-like and I won't have an issue with anything you say."

Luckily for him, Silver refrained from smirking. "Okay, Lyra. I won't go there if that's a touchy spot. Wouldn't want you to sic your Charizard on me." He shot a knowing look at the hand now resting on Luke's pokeball. "But you have to understand that this isn't a picnic in the park. Revenge is a tricky thing, Kotone. I wouldn't want you to get the wrong idea."

"This isn't about revenge-" I argued hotly, still pissed out of my mind. However, Silver cut me off before I could finish what I was saying.

"Yeah, Lyra, it is," Silver retorted, "You're pissed. I get that. Just remember that you went looking for them. And that changes a person."

"Speaking from experience, are you, Silver?" I answered icily, raising an eyebrow.

He looked away. "It doesn't matter what I've been through. What matters is that you're about to make a choice. Is this really what you want?"

"Yes," I nodded without hesitation, "This is what I want. Definitely."

"Okay then," Silver nodded, meeting my eyes, "Alright. Then let me help you out."

"Do your worst," I said, crossing my arms. "What do I need to do?"

* * *

**Two hours later**

"When I said 'do your worst', I wasn't serious," I said grumpily as I looked in the mirror. My hair was even shorter- now cut like a boy's, seeing as that was my new identity- and I was dressed in baggy-looking clothes with the same navy hat as before. My eyes were a different color too (blue now) due to some kind of color contacts. Overall, I didn't even recognize myself.

Silver smirked, looking quite pleased. "At least one of us is enjoying themselves."

"I'm still mad at you, ginger," I frowned deeply, "So wipe that smirk off your face right this second."

"Yeah, yeah, whatever," Silver shrugged, "So what's your plan to start off with?"

"I want to make sure Ethan's okay first," I decided, worried after the message Team Rocket had sent me, "Then, I guess I'll roll from there. I'll start with that sketchy guy at the store in Mahogany Town, you know, the one whose store was above the Team Rocket base. He got off free cause we didn't have enough evidence against him to prove he knew the base was there. I'll find out if he's been contacted by Team Rocket recently. Then I'll move on to other known members of Team Rocket."

"The way I see it, you've got two priorities right now," Silver explained, "Finding the one who did it and the one who gave the orders to do it. If you're looking for the big guy, I suggest talking to Blue, the Viridian Gym Leader, at some point. That'll be tricky, but his gym used to be controlled by Team Rocket. He may know where Giovanni fled to when he was first driven out of the gym. It's all about following the trail, you know."

"Sounds good," I nodded, "I want to leave tonight so I can fly in the cover of darkness. Plus, you probably don't want people to see a mysterious boy leaving your house in broad daylight."

"Neither do I want people to see that at night," Silver pointed out gruffly, "So don't be seen."

I grinned at him. "Thanks for helping out, Silver."

"Yeah, well, you just hold up your end of the bargain and everything will be all good," he replied, looking away from me. I could tell that he was a little bit pleased though. So there was a person buried in there after all. "And Lance will be on Champion duty all this week, so he'll be kept busy."

"Good," I answered, not pursuing the conversation any more. "In other news, I got an idea," I grinned again, grabbing Cav's Pokeball from my belt. "Want to have a battle while we wait?" With Silver's being a Champion and all, his house also including a state of the art indoor battling field. That way, no one could see us and I could get in some practice with my new team.

For the first time in a long time, Silver grinned right back. "You're on."


	3. Chapter 3

Silver ended up winning. It wasn't a big surprise, considering half my team was newbies. Oh, well. I managed to blow up his ego a little bit more, so at least I accomplished something. Luke and Typhlosion went at it for a while, until I finally called back Luke because I didn't want him getting too tired since he was carrying me a long way tonight. Those two are something to see though. Plus, Cav managed to take down his Crobat before falling to Weaville. Gengar was, well, kind of creeping me out right now. But, Sucuine, was he useful. He was the one that took down Typhlosion after I withdrew Luke. My three new Pokemon, Jolteon, Gyarados, and Sandslash, put on a decent showing, so overall, I was pretty happy.

Silver was pleased as well. His victories over me came few and far between, so I think he enjoyed it very much. After the battle, he left to get me the final piece of my cover- my new trainer's license. I made sure my team was ready to go. After tonight, I was on my own. Silver had picked me up a new Pokegear to use so he could call me to check in every once and a while. That would be my only link to any form of help. Well, I guess it was better than nothing.

Silver returned an hour later with my new Trainer card. "Matthew White," I read, nodding my approval, "Okay, I like it. It's plain, not very memorable. Good job. How'd you get this anyway?"

He shrugged, smirking. "I know people."

"Well, aren't you important?" I retorted in a teasing voice.

He sent me a scathing look. "Let's keep the banter to a minimum. If you want to do that, wait until you talk to Ethan."

"Hmm, someone's grumpy," I looked away, a bit ruffled.

"You're just always too goddamn animated," he flicked a side glance at me, angry enough to vent but not serious enough to look me in the eye. "Don't you ever get sick of it?"

"I choose not to address that question," I answered, concentrating on my breathing and trying to block him out. He had no idea. He had no idea how much things hurt sometimes. I was trying to get away from it. Maybe this running away and starting something new was about more than just hunting down Team Rocket. Maybe if I could be Matthew White for a little while, just enough to relieve the pain I was feeling as Lyra Kotone, then I could find some semblance of happiness again.

"Well," Silver said after a few minutes, "It's almost dark. Just leave whenever. Remember to try not to freak out if I don't answer at first when you call because I may be around other people. And for Suicune's sake, don't do anything girly. It's counterproductive to your cover. I'll be around if you need me." And he left, going somewhere else in the house. Fifteen minutes later, I left.

I was on my way.

**Three hours later**

I made it faster than I thought I would. New Bark was the same. It always was the same and that's what I loved about it. Through all the chaos, it never changed. At least, that's how it used to be. Once my house was burned to the ground, it was a different story. That was how she had died. The cops never found out how the fire had started, but I knew better.

I almost had to visit the spot. The pull was irresistible. I had come here, immediately after it had happened, terrified and scared out of my mind. My mom hadn't died right away. She was rescued by no one other than Ethan, whose Azumarill cut through the fire to get her out. However, after a few hours in the hospital, the pain was too much.

I say the remains of my house from a distance. No one had touched it. At least not yet. I had made Ethan promise not to let anyone touch it and he had stuck behind that promise. I couldn't let go of it. Not yet. The pull to go there was so strong, I almost gave into it. But I was Matthew White, not Lyra Kotone. That was behind me. I had to focus on the here and now, so that something like that would never, ever happen to me again.

Instead, I headed to the lab, where I would find Ethan. Professor Elm was off on some sort of year-long field investigation and Ethan was manning the lab for him. It made me proud. Here, Ethan Hibiki was giving new trainers their very first Pokemon and doing studies of his own. I couldn't believe how much he had changed from the hyper kid that I used to know into the (mostly) mature guy I knew today. I loved it.

It was late, but I figured Ethan would be in the lab anyway. He never really had much of a social life, besides Pokemon. And if he wasn't here, I'd just hole up somewhere with my gear and wait until morning. I was going to make up some story about how my little brother was interested in getting a Pokemon from him, or something along those lines. I knocked, waiting. For a moment, no one answered. I knocked again, just to be sure no one was there.

Still, there was no answer. Trying not to be a creeper was a difficult thing right now. The whole point of me coming here was to make sure Ethan was okay. More than likely, he just wasn't here right now, but it didn't hurt to make sure everything was hunky-dory. So I went around to the side of the lab and planned on peering through the window quickly, suddenly realizing that I was in the same spot Silver had been when he had planned his robbery. And that realization made me really feel like a creeper.

My eyes widened as soon as I looked in. There was Ethan, flanked on either side by four sketchy-looking guys who didn't have Team Rocket uniforms on, but it looked very much like the possibility of them being Team Rocket was totally out of the realm of plausibility. Then, in between them and directly in front of Ethan was my oh-so-favorite buddy who I recognized as Petrel, Team Rocket executive/lackey. Yeah, this was definitely Team Rocket. I watched as Ethan mouthed something to them, shaking his head, and Petrel belted him across the face for it. That was when I took action.

"Gengar, c'mon out," I said grimly, also reaching for Luke's Pokeball. This was going to get ugly fast and I needed Luke to get Ethan and I out of here as soon as possible. I had two missions right now. Get Ethan out at all costs and get these Team Rocket guys out of New Bark. In that order of importance as well.

Gengar looked at me curiously, waiting for orders. Luke, now also released from his Pokeball, followed suit. "Alright, guys, we're going for total chaos. Cause some havoc, grab Ethan, and let's get the hell out of Dodge. Capishe?"

Gengar did that creepy grin of his and floated right through the wall into the lab, attracting the attention of the five Team Rocket guys. I saw Petrel's mouth moving and could only assume that he was saying something along the lines of "What in Entei's name-?"

That was when Luke and I crashed through the full-length window, sending shattered glass everywhere and really bringing the chaos to them. Luke kept his wings close to his body and I ducked down, covering my head and clinging to him tightly, so the glass didn't do any serious damage to us, besides a few scratches. And it produced the desired effect. The grunts especially looked pretty surprised and intimidated. And Luke and I were only getting started.

"Don't let the Professor escape!" I heard Petrel yell as Luke charged for Ethan, spitting flames. He must be as intimidating as hell right now because the grunts sort of just edged to the side as we got closer. Gengar sent a Shadow Ball through their midst, breaking them up even more as Luke swung his tail, knocking Petrel away from Ethan just as the Rocket Executive was reaching for a Pokeball.

"Ethan, let's go," I grabbed my stunned best friend and pulled him on Luke, almost grinning at the expression on his face. If he had been this far up in Team Rocket's pecking order, there was no way I was letting him go unprotected. He was gonna disappear along with me. That much I knew.

Finally, Petrel released his Weezing, which was barreling straight toward us, and in the closed confines of the lab Luke had no room to dodge. A Shadow Ball attack from Gengar neatly stopped it in its tracks, causing it to be thrown back across the lab, causing more destruction. I heard Ethan groan behind me. "Professor Elm is gonna kill me!"

"That's the least of your worries, amigo," I grinned as I signaled Luke to take off. He gave his wings an experimental flap, then half-flew, half-lumbered for the broken window. Gengar covered our backs, fending off any errant attacks now coming from the other Grunts' Golbat. "Alright, Luke, let's get out of here as quickly as we can."

Luke responded, picking up the pace as we pulled away from New Bark Town, trailing Golbats and one bad-ass Gengar behind us. That was when I realized that Silver was literally going to kill me.

**Two hours later**

"Are you insane?"

"Silver, I-"

"No, really, Lyra, are you crazy? Delusional? Mentally unbalanced? Cause I kind of would've liked to know that sometime before I agreed to help you, which I am very much regretting that I ever did right now. Seriously, what were you thinking?"

"Ethan was in trouble and I had to get him out of there. That's all there is to it, hotshot."

"And you couldn't have done it in a quieter way? For Suicune's sake, Kotone, New Bark is quiet, but it's not deserted. Have you turned on the TV lately? They're showing footage of Charizard flying away with the two of you on his back, trailing a bunch of Golbat and my Gengar."

"Someone manged to get some footage?" I asked, a small hint of panic in my voice. "Well, they can't see my face, can they?"

"No, but your days of flying on Charizard's back are over. Plus, people are going to be looking for Ethan. Including Team Rocket. They're not going to like that he got away. And the press doesn't even know what to think, but most of the stations are labeling this as a kidnapping. You really screwed yourself here, Lyra."

"Yeah, I know," I answered grimly.

"Well, where are you now?" He asked. "Somewhere remotely safe?"

"The cliffs outside Blackthorn, actually," I replied. "We went north from New Bark. I made Ethan get some rest. He's asking a lot of questions now, but I don't think he's actually realized it's me yet. He's too disoriented. But he will figure it if I try to hide it."

"Then don't," Silver said. "As much as I don't like more people knowing, it doesn't look like we have a choice."

"Yeah," I nodded to myself, relieved that I had someone to talk to about this, even if it was just Silver. "What about Lance? Anything from him?"

"I haven't had time to talk to him yet," Silver explained. "But I'll get to that. Right now I'm a bit preoccupied on, you know, grasping the full implications of the lunatic act you just pulled here."

"Make sure you talk to him soon," I retorted. "I don't want to be blindsided here. You know that Lance could easily get involved in this."

"Yeah, yeah, I'll do it. Even though I think I'm the last person he wants to talk to."

"What do you mean?" I knew he and Lance had never really been buddies, but Lance never had a problem talking to Silver when it was necessary.

"You don't really want to know about this," I could just hear the eye-roll Silver was giving me right now.

"Yes, I do, Silver. What are you talking about?"

"Well, the fact that I was the one who was with you when you, you know, 'died' doesn't exactly help my case with Lance."

"Silver, why don't you just tell me what's going on? Stop beating around the bush." I told him, a tiny bit angry. If he had something to say, why did he have to be so obscure about it?

"I think Lance is mad at me because I didn't do anything to save you, now you're gone, and he, to put it candidly, doesn't like you being dead all that much."

"Oh," I said shortly, feeling stupid. Now I felt guilty, which I think was the exact reason why Silver didn't want to tell me. I didn't need the distraction of my friends and family who now thought I was dead. I had to focus on my self-assigned mission and that was it.

"Well, seeing as it's practically eleven at night and I don't really have anything more to say, I'm going to get some sleep now. Don't call again unless it's important."

"Okay, Silver, talk to you later." I hung up, turning to see Ethan looking at me strangely, his hat in his hand and his dark hair in a state of messy chaos. Apparently, he was done resting and either wanted some answers or already had the majority of them figured out.

"That was Luke we were flying on, wasn't it?" He asked quietly, looking down at his hat.

"Yeah, Ethan, it was," I nodded, wishing he'd meet my eyes.

"You look different," he commented softly.

"Well, I'm supposed to be Matthew White," I tried a smile, but he didn't respond to it. He just looked thoughtful.

"I thought about this some, since I figured out who you were, and there's one thing I don't understand." He took an unsteady breath of air in and I waited, only hoping he wasn't mad at me. "I understand why you maybe would've wanted the world to think you were dead. You had to disappear. You had to have room to investigate Team Rocket after what happened to your mom." He looked up at me hesitantly, eyes questioning. "That is why you did this, right?"

"Yeah," my voice came out hoarse, as if I was hesitant to say anything at all.

"Well, I just don't understand why you wanted me to think the same as the rest of the world, Lyra." He looked down again, taking another unsteady breath. "You don't get what's it's like to be told that your best friend in the whole world is gone. You just don't know." His hands curled into fists and I knew him well enough to know that he was crying right now, although I couldn't see the tears in the almost total darkness of the grassy clearing.

I had never felt so horrible in my life. It was myself who had done this. Only me. My best friend, who I hadn't seen cry since he broke his arm when he was twelve, was crying because of me. I could tell him that it was really for his own safety that he didn't know right away. I could tell him that it was because for this to work, everything had to be real. But nothing I could say would make him feel any better. The damage was done.

"I'm sorry, Ethan," I felt my own voice break a bit and my vision blurred a bit. I did the only thing I could think of doing right now- I hugged him as tightly as I could, feeling the burning in my eyes that meant I was about to cry as well. Suicune, when had this turned into a big pity party?

He squeezed me back and I could feel his sigh of relief. "I just thought I'd never see you again. You don't even know how glad I am that you're here."

"Well, you don't have a very good way of showing it," I laughed, half-hiccuping and half-giggling through my tears.

Ethan grinned back as we let go of each other, both drying our eyes furiously. "Well, if it's any consolation, I didn't plan on crying. I've never felt less of a man in my life."

"I've seen you worse."

"Really?" Ethan asked. "And when would that be?"

"How about when you challenged Julia to a battle in front of half the school and her Mareep destroyed your Marill."

Ethan's face darkened. "I don't like to talk about that."

"See told ya," I grinned, "Let's get some kind of sleep. I've got one sleeping bag. You want to battle me for it?"

"No," Ethan said emphatically, "Really, you can have it."

I laughed, loving that I had my best friend back. "I'll get us another one as soon as I can." We both found semi-comfortable spots to settle down. Ethan ended up with the sleeping bag and I let out Cav and Luke, settling myself between them. I preferred it this way anyway.

Before I fell asleep, my thoughts turned back to my older sister Julia, who I had mentioned to Ethan before. I wondered, fleetingly, whether she would actually bother coming over to Johto for very long. She wasn't my favorite person in the world and was honestly kind of a bitch sometimes, but she still could present an issue, especially considering the fact that all my Pokemon were left in her care, provided that she came to collect them. Otherwise, I had gotten Silver to hold onto them for me. Hopefully, she wouldn't care enough to come. I realized that maybe I should've warned Silver about her.

I shrugged internally. Silver said not to call him unless it was important. This could wait until next time we talked. I didn't realize how wrong I was until I got the call from Silver the next morning.


	4. Chapter 4

**Thanks to everyone for the reviews! You're all awesome! I like it, so keep 'em coming. :) Here's the next chapter.**

* * *

"Are you anywhere near a TV?"

"No, Silver, as I told you before, we're camped out on the cliffs below Blackthorn."

"Get to one. Now. Then we can talk."

And he hung up on me. I stare at the Pokegear, face confused. "Uh, Lyra, what's up?" Ethan asked from his spot nestled in the sleeping bag, where he had pretty much just woken up. According to the Pokegear, it was around nine by now. The excitement of last night hadn't really affected my sleeping patterns much and I woke up around six, just as I used to do to train with Lance in the morning. That was a sore spot. Lance. Maybe Silver's abruptness was about him. If it was, I may be even more screwed than I already am.

"Silver just hung up on me," I announced in reply, staring at the Pokegear a few more seconds before putting it away.

"And you are surprised… why?" Ethan said, his face a mix of confusion and humor.

I rolled my eyes at him. "Shutty, Einstein. Now get these clothes," Ethan made a grunting noise as I threw the clothes I had grabbed from my backpack at him, hitting him in the face, "and change. Preferably somewhere far, far away and discreet. I don't want to see anything."

"Yes, oh Champion," Ethan threw a quick salute, grabbing the clothes and wandering off into the forest somewhere. I was left with my thoughts, which were somewhat crowded right now. There were too many things to think about. Silver was on the verge of leaving me to fend for myself. All of Johto was watching for Ethan because they thought he was kidnapped. I was so far pretty much zero percent closer to my original goal of finding Team Rocket's base. Plus, the Dragon Master of Johto was going to kick my butt into the ground once he found out how I had lied to him. Not even to mention the fact that my mother was dead and my sister MIA. Julia left for Sinnoh five years ago and didn't even come back when Mom was on her deathbed. Some family I had. Who was I kidding last night? She wasn't coming back. Not now and not ever. It had always been that way.

"Ethan? You done yet?" I called out, realizing he had been gone for quite some time now. There was no reply. I tried not to panic. He was around somewhere. He probably just got distracted by some different type of rare Pokemon.

"C'mon, Ethan, what are you doing?" I had the slightest hint of fear. Just the tiniest bit that was growing inside me, threatening to get bigger and bigger. I got up, my heart in my throat. "Ethan? This isn't funny, Ethan. Where are you?" I walked in the direction he had gone, searching around wildly. If he had… If Team Rocket… I couldn't even voice my thoughts right now, I was so scared. I couldn't think of things like that yet. Team Rocket would never, ever get their hands on Ethan. Not while I was here. Not while-

"Ethan," I gave a sigh of relief, stopping to catch my breath, "Don't you ever- Just, don't-"

"Hey, Lyra," Ethan grinned, "Look at this Gligar I found. Isn't its wingspan incredible? You know, I need to get myself a flying Pokemon. I've always loved them. Like when we flew away on Luke? Awesome." He was literally two feet away from a Gligar who looked like it was going to bite his hand off at any second.

"Ethan, are you listening?" I grabbed him, practically dragging him away from the Gligar. "Seriously, don't you ever disappear like that again. You scared the crap out of me."

"I just got side-tracked-" Ethan started to protest, but I cut him off with my rambling.

"I mean, you may think I'm paranoid, but we need to stick together. Always. I can't let anything bad happen to you or else I would never forgive myself. So, just, try to make my life a little bit easier and stay close, okay?"

"You know, Team Rocket aren't like, Gengar or anything. They don't appear and reappear whenever they wish. They're not going to randomly appear out of thin air, snatch me, and run. Besides, I can take care of myself."

I shot him a dubious look.

"Okay, so I may need a little bit of help every once in a while," he admitted, "but that doesn't make me any less of a man. Really, though, I'm not going to just disappear all of a sudden."

"I like to be prepared for anything," I replied shortly, straightening the clothes I had given him. "Now I'm going to go into Blackthorn quickly for some supplies and to find out some news and such, so hole up somewhere and wait for me to get back. And keep Cav with you just in case." I handed Ethan Cav's Pokeball. "And for Raikou's sake, stay out of trouble. Please."

"Yeah," Ethan's face looked enthusiastic. I swear, he reminded me so much of a little kid still. "Totally. I mean, we'll be good on our own. Cav and I are great. Really. Do what you need to do."

I looked at him doubtfully, then reached over and pressed the button on the Pokeball to let Cav out. "I'd prefer it if he was, you know, actively watching you."

"Mega," Cav said happily, rubbing against Ethan. Cav liked Ethan because Ethan usually had some kind of good food to give him. Today was not really the same case, but I didn't want to be the one to ruin things for the boisterous grass-type.

"Okay, then Croc can come out and we can have a little reunion," Ethan's face lit up again as he picked out his Crocanaw's Pokeball, letting him out. Croc flicked its tail back and forth cheerfully, giving Cav a toothy grin. Good to see that someone's spirits were up.

"Alright, I'm going now," I nodded, setting out for Blackthorn, but still hesitant as I looked back every once in a while. That boy worried me sometimes. A lot of the time.

**An hour later**

An hour later, I was gasping for breath. I hate cliffs. I hate climbing up them or finding ways around them. I wish I could've just flew on Luke the whole way, but I couldn't risk someone seeing me. I need to have Silver send me a different flying Pokemon. One that sticks out a bit less. But, eventually, I reached Blackthorn. Hopefully, it would be a little bit easier on the way down then on the way up.

I headed toward the Pokemart, where there would be food and supplies. Then, I would go to the Pokemon Center to get Luke and Gengar checked out and to see what was so astounding on the news that Silver didn't even want to talk about it. Even at ten o'clock in the morning, it was fairly quiet, although I was a tiny bit nervous that I would have to look out for Clair. Clair and I had never gotten along, due to the badge incident which we still had not gotten past, even at Lance's constant pleads. I mean, really, if you get beat, you give up the badge. That's how it worked. You shouldn't have to have your arm twisted by the Dragon Elder. Plus, she doesn't like that I was approved by the elders. And the fact that I spend so much time with Lance drives her crazy. We're always at odds. She probably started planning the party within minutes of my official notice of death.

I at least made it to the Pokemart without seeing her. There, I picked up a few things and headed to the Pokemon Center. As soon as I walked in, I gave Luke and Gengar to Nurse Joy and headed to the lounge, where I would wait for them to be healed. This is where I found a TV. It was already on the news channel, but the newsperson was talking about a new school in Cherrygrove, so I figured that if I just waited a while eventually what I was looking for would come on. I didn't have to wait long.

Crap. Holy Crap. Great. Guess who decided to show up? My oh so wonderful and lovely older sister. And not only was she here, but she seemed to have teamed up with Lance. Yes, as in, the Dragon Master. My Dragon Master.

First to speak was Lance. My heart constricted a bit, seeing him again. His face was solemn and unmoving and I really, really hoped he wasn't taking this as hard as Silver had said. However, he still looked as proud as ever with his full attire, cape and all. Honestly, with Dragonite standing behind him he pretty much backed up his champion title. No one ever doubted that Lance had earned his title, time and time again. Especially when there were fierce-looking Dragon Pokemon to prove the point.

Entei, right now I was wishing so hard that I could go back about three weeks, before my mother had died, back when I had barely a care in the world, besides keeping Luke away from Lance's Charizard, Lila. Lance and I used to train together every morning, like clockwork, from six-thirty to nine. It was the best part of the day because it was just me, my Pokemon, and one of the best adversaries I could ever battle against. I missed it. I really did.

Lance started to talk now and I concentrated on the TV. "Professor Ethan Hibiki was a good friend of my late colleague Lyra Kotone and I find it worrying that he has been missing since last night, when he was taken under mysterious circumstances," he announced strongly, looking into the camera. I noted that he had good eye-contact. I had to help him with that. Lance wasn't always the amazing speech-giver that he is today. "I am making it my job, no, my priority, to find him, just as Lyra would have. I understand that he could not be in danger at all, but as long as he is missing, there is the possibility. I will not take chances," his eyes then flashed darker, showing that he was not kidding around at all on this one. "So if someone has indeed kidnapped the professor, this is my message to you. I will find you. It's only a matter of time. Thank you." He ducked down from the podium, making way for my sister.

I gulped. Lance was scary sometimes.

My sister stepped up effortlessly to the podium, looking confident and gorgeously stunning, as she always did. "For those of you who don't know me, I am Julia Kotone, older sister of the former champion Lyra Kotone. I traveled from Sinnoh when I heard about my sister's death, and now hearing about Ethan's disappearance has made everything all that much more horrible." I consciously gagged. Julia had always hated Ethan. She dealt with me because I was her sister, but she hated Ethan. She would go out of her way to embarrass and belittle him whenever she could. He was "my stupid boyfriend" to her. Even though we had never, ever even thought about dating in our lives.

"I have spent the last five years training in Sinnoh," she continued, "and I hope to use that experience to help Lance in locating Ethan." I snorted in disbelief. I don't know how much help she would be to Lance. She didn't mention that she spent the majority of those years chasing after guys and battling with Pokemon only because it made her look good. And she was somehow on a first name basis with Lance? I didn't like this. Not at all. What had she told Lance to get him to let her tag along? I knew that all she wanted from this was her fifteen minutes of fame, but she could be a loose cannon.

That's when I remembered that she most likely had come for. My eyes got wider. "Holy Suicune, she has my Pokemon, doesn't she?" I sighed, holding my head. Not my Pokemon! Maybe Silver managed to hide them from her. At least my four main ones that I had left behind: Tank, my Donphan; Bellona, my Red Gyarados; Sasha, my Espeon; and Spenser, my Fearow. They were my babies. I had to call Silver. Now. I at least had the wits left to take the Pokegear off speaker and lower my voice.

"Silver, tell me that you saved my Pokemon and I will be forever grateful to you."

"Uh, yeah, about that."

"Silver!"

"Yes."

"Do not tell me that my psycho of a sister has my Pokemon right now!"

"Well, there's good news and bad news. Which one first?"

I sighed. "Good news. I don't know if I can take any more bad at this point."

"Well, I managed to rescue your Fearow because it's one of your less recognizable Pokemon."

"And?"

"Well, the rest are currently in the hands of the enemy."

"Damn it."

"Your sister's kind of hot, for the enemy, you know."

"Silver! Not appropriate and not something I want to hear you say ever again."

"Well, pipsqueak, before you get all uppity, let me just remind you that it is your fault we got blindsided. You could've warned me about her!"

"I didn't think she would come. I mean, she didn't even come when my mom was on her deathbed." I paused, suddenly realizing something. "Silver, why didn't you just take the rest of my main team of Pokemon and say that they were with me when I, you know, 'fell to my death'?"

"Oh, yeah," Silver answered, "That probably would've been easier."

"Why don't I think of these things?" I groaned, doing a face-palm.

"Well, it's your own fault. If you hadn't decided to literally kidnap the Professor, then maybe you would have a Dragon Master coming after your ass. And you know he's got his connections with being a G-man and all, so that's not going to make anything easier."

"I know, Silver, just, shut up for a moment. I can't think with you in my ear."

"Well, you're leaving me out on a limb here."

"I don't know, just get on top of this. You're smart. You can figure it out. Isn't it Lance's week for Champion duty anyway? Why is he preparing to go off on this big investigation?"

"Well, he hasn't come to me yet, but I can only assume he's expecting me to take over for him. And how can I say no without looking like a dickwad?" Hmm. He did have a point. For some reason, Silver actually cared about what the public thought of him.

"He knows you would never agree to it otherwise, so he made a public announcement so you'd have to accept," I said thoughtfully, appreciating the stroke of genius. That was so typical of Lance.

"Asshole." I heard Silver mutter from the other end.

"You're just pissed cause he outmaneuvered you," I shot back, rolling my eyes.

"Us, smart-aleck," Silver retorted. "He outmaneuvered us. He's not on our side for the moment. Remember that."

"I know, Silver," I replied. "I can understand that much." I looked up to see Nurse Joy approaching me with two Pokeballs. It must be Luke and Gengar. "Gotta go, Silv. See ya!"

"Don't call me-" I had already hung up. Silver hated nicknames. Hated them.

"Here are your Charizard and Gengar," Nurse Joy handed them to me, smiling. It happened to be just my luck that at that particular moment, the news decided to run the clip of Ethan and me fleeing New Bark last night. Clearly in the picture were a Charizard and Gengar, identical to the two in my possession, obviously, seeing as they were the same.

I looked over at Nurse Joy to see her eyes go back and forth a few times between the TV and the Pokeballs in my hand. "Uh, okaythanksbye," I said hurriedly as I made for the door. Stupid, stupid, stupid. I was making too many mistakes. Who was I kidding? Lance would find me in a second if I didn't step it up a bit here. The stakes were too high for me to screw up now. I had to get out of Johto. I had been hoping to head right over to Mahogany Town after this to question the shady guy who had helped with the Lake of Rage plot, but it looked like I had raised too much suspicion here.

I made sure I wasn't followed and made my way back to Ethan. "Let's go, Ethan. We gotta get out of here."

"Where do we go?" He asked, his face so utterly confused. Cav and Croc stopped their playing and looked at me expectantly. Cav came closer, nudging my arm with his head and silently asking what was wrong.

"I've just made too many mistakes, Cav," I sighed, resting a hand on his back. "Lance would kill me right now if he knew how stupid I was being. Silver's about to kill me. And between you and me, Ethan's too dumb to realize all the mistakes I'm making."

"Hey," Ethan protested, sending me a sour look. "I'm not dumb, I just trust you." That made me feel better. At least one person thought I knew what I was doing.

"Meg," Cav rubbed up against me, letting me know that it was okay. Things were going to be okay. I shook my head tiredly. If only it really worked that way.

"We need to get out of Johto, Ethan. Head east, toward Kanto. We'll be roughing it for a while, but once it's dark, we can probably do some flying on Luke over the less populated parts." I shot him a look, part of me wishing I could get him somewhere safe. But where? I only had really one option- Silver. But I couldn't. I didn't trust him enough.

"Don't say it, Lyra," Ethan shook his head. "I'm staying with you. No way are you getting rid of me."

I hesitated, but the determined look on his face made me give in. "Okay. But really, no wandering off."

"You got it, Champ," he grinned.

"And don't call me Champ," I retorted wryly, feeling more and more like Silver every day.


	5. Chapter 5

**Update time! Thanks to those who reviewed again. :) Hope you all enjoy this chapter too!**

**Kitsune Kit: More Lance is coming. :) I promise. **

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I came over the crest of the hill, pleased to see Kanto finally in my line of sight. It had been a grueling two days, but we had made it- both walking and riding Luke for one night, only for a few hours. I stretched, pausing as I waited for Ethan. We had literally seen no one for the past two days and Ethan was complaining- as usual.

"When are we going to get there?" He sighed as he trudged up the hill, Croc waddling behind him and looking much less energetic than he previously had been. "I mean, honestly, we've been walking for days and days and I seriously just want to-"

He stopped as he reached the top of the hill. "Uh, that's a city in the distance."

"I knew I traveled with you for some reason," I grinned at him. "Congratulations. You have found Viridian City."

"Please tell me we're going there," Ethan shot me a pleading look. "Please tell me that I'm going there."

"Sorry, Professor," I tried to keep the grin off my face. "You're a pretty recognizable guy when your face is on every news channel and a Champion of Johto is looking for you."

Ethan sighed, looking dejected. "Not to sound like a girl or anything, but I haven't showered in about three days. And I've been walking constantly, sweating up a storm. I stink."

"I noticed," I quipped, shooting him a look. He glared at me. "Listen, you girl, while I'm in town, I'll find some things to disguise you with. Until then, suck it up."

Ethan heaved a dramatic sigh. "I suppose I can do that."

I rolled my eyes. "At least we have an agreement."

"What are you going to do while you're there?" Ethan asked questioningly, eyebrow raised.

"Have a little chat with our good friend Blue," I replied, shooting Ethan a grin. He glared at me yet again.

"You know I don't like him," Ethan frowned.

"Yes, you've mentioned that. Several times, actually."

"He's a flirt. And a jerk. And a good-for-nothing scoundrel."

"And he could still beat your ass in a Pokemon battle."

Ethan was silent for a moment, then made a face at me. "Ah. I hate you, Lyra."

"I know," I grinned. "Now let's just walk. A little bit closer and I'm leaving you here with Luke."

Ethan looked down, muttering. "What's that?" I asked, grinning devilishly.

"Nothing."

"That's what I thought, tough guy." I was thoroughly enjoying myself.

* * *

A few hours later I was on my way to Viridian. I had changed into a different pair of clothes and switch my hat with another one I had packed, just in case the Nurse Joy in Blackthorn had decided to say something about my suspicious behavior. I headed straight for the Viridian Gym, where I hoped Blue would actually be. He liked to travel, which, as I remember, was quite inconvenient when I had come to challenge him the first time around.

Luckily, as I ducked into the gym, I realized that he was here. Thank Suicune. And he still looked as cocky and stuck-up as ever, but that was just Blue, no way around it. He was all the way across the gym though and there were plenty of Gym Trainers before I got to him. I sighed, taking out Sandslash's Pokeball. Time to kick some ass.

* * *

Skipping forward a bit, I think it is sufficient to say that I kicked some ass. Blue was not impressed though. I didn't expect him to be. He's never impressed until someone beats him. I didn't have the time to battle him right now, although I kinda wish I did after seeing the cocky grin he gave me as I walked up.

"Hey, kiddo. Congrats on passing through the Gym Trainers, but they're far from my level."

I suppressed my look of disgust and got to the point. "I'm not here to battle you."

"Really?" A flicker of mild interest passed over Blue's expression. "So, why are you here?"

"I need information," I said carefully, gauging his reaction.

"Information, huh?" Blue crossed his arms, the hint of a smile still on his face. "Who do you think I am?"

"Someone who might know something about the location of Team Rocket," I countered and waited for the smile to slide off his face. It didn't, however, and he just kept right on going.

"Listen, kid, I'll give you credit," Blue nodded, an almost knowing smirk on his face. "It takes guts to beat all the trainers in here to get to me just to ask me a dumb question that's a waste of my time. I don't know anything. But you don't seem like a bad kid, so I'm gonna give you a little bit of advice. Leave this alone. You're going places that you don't want to go and you're not even gonna be happy in the long run. Capiche?"

I was stunned for a moment, but it didn't take long to recover. "How can you not know anything?" I retorted, awfully pissed off at Blue right now. "This gym used to be controlled by Giovanni himself. How can you say that you don't know anything?"

"Because, I, unlike you, don't waste my time with things that don't concern me," Blue shrugged, but I felt his act was a bit forced. From my position in the Elite Four, I knew he had been involved in something with Team Rocket, but it had always been hush-hush. Something that involved Leaf and Red and something a whole lot bigger than the three of them. Now Leaf was gone, Red was missing, and Blue seemed to be forcing the "I don't know anything" act. Something was going on.

"I think you know something," I stated bluntly, going for the honest approach. "You know something and you don't want to tell me and that's fine. Because I'm going to do it without your help. I'm gonna find them, sooner or later." I turned around, not exactly finding what I was looking for, but stumbling upon something all the same. Maybe if I could find Red… But no one had seen him in three years or so, after I had beat him on the top of Mt. Silver. He had disappeared. I couldn't do anything about that.

As soon as I stepped out of the gym, I realized that I still didn't have much direction. Where did I go from here? I decided the best idea first would be to get Ethan a disguise and check back in on him. It was still only 12 o'clock though, and I wanted to get more done. I sighed, heading toward the mart. I needed a better plan than what I was dealing with.

After picking up a few things from the mart and brainstorming of anything else I could do to get Blue to spill, I finally headed back to Ethan, who couldn't have been happier to see me.

"Do you have any idea how boring it is out here by myself?" Ethan complained as I got out the supplies from my bag. "Besides, I'm hungry- what is that?"

"Bleach," I stated. "I got some scissors too."

"The bleach is for our white-wash, right?" Ethan asked hopefully.

I shook my head, partially grinning. "You're gonna be a blondie, Professor."

Ethan sighed. "Raikou, I hoped you weren't going to say that."

At that moment, my Pokegear chose to ring. I put down the bleach, which saved Ethan for the moment, and walked into the woods a bit for some privacy, knowing automatically who it was going to be.

"Hey, Silver," I said cheerfully. "What's up?"

"You'll never guess who just showed up," Silver's voice was unusually dramatic and serious.

"Is this in a 'crap, I'm screwed' way or a 'fun guessing game' kind of way?" I asked hesitantly. There was a pause on Silver's side, which most likely signified that this was a "shut up and listen, Lyra" type of thing.

"Okay, lay it on me. I'm ready." I answered, steeling myself.

"Red. He's in the Pokemon League building, right now."

Okay, that got my attention. It seemed a bit too much of a coincidence that this thing with Blue comes up and Red shows up after three years of being missing. "Explain," I commanded.

"He's with Lance. I think the 'Almighty Dragon Tamer' is hiding him in his quarters. No one else knows yet because I think Lance is trying to keep it a secret. Protecting him from the media blowback. The return of the Kanto Champion would be a big thing, you know."

"Well, how do you know?" I asked, curious, forgetting that you never asked Silver about his methods.

"Sneaking," he replied off-handedly. I didn't ask.

"Did you get any inclination of why he's here? Or why he's looking for help from Lance?"

I could almost hear Silver's shrug. "I have no clue. He didn't look good though. I only caught a glimpse of him before-" He broke off, leaving the statement hanging as he scrambled for some way to finish it.

"Before?" I questioned.

"You know, before I couldn't see him anymore," Silver finished lamely.

"Silver, what happened?" I asked, narrowing my eyes.

"Okay, so Mr. Dragon Master of the World might have seen me prying," Silver admitted, which was a big step for him. I think he's very proud of his sneaking abilities.

"Silver! Talk about me screwing things up. Suicune, that's exactly what I didn't want to happen." I answered exasperatedly.

"I mean, I fed him some story to explain, but there's always the slight possibility that he doesn't believe me. It's very slight."

I rubbed my temples, deciding to let it be. "I'm gonna need some more help."

"Of course you need more help, Kotone. Every single time I talk to you, it's like one more thing I have to do."

"This is a bigger thing," I explained.

There was silence on the other end.

"I'm gonna need you to use your sneaking skills to get me in that building and get me a conversation with Red."

Silver sighed. "Why did I ever agree to this?"

"Please, Silver. I really think that where ever Red has been, it has to do with Team Rocket. Remember hearing rumors about that whole thing with him, Blue, and Leaf? I don't know what happened, but I know Red's involved somehow. And even if his disappearance isn't about Team Rocket, he was the one who defeated the however many years ago. He'll know something."

"I swear, I'm going to hell because of you. Only because of you. All these favors pile up, Kotone."

"But I know why you do it, Silver," I said, realizing it right then and there. He complained and grumbled about it, but he always did them. He never cared about helping anyone. Why was it different now? "You want me to find them and hurt them. You still hate them for what they did to you and your dad. And it's about my mom. I don't know why I feel this way, but that part of it bugs you too. It helps that you care though, Silv, it really helps."

There was total and utter silence on the line for a moment. "I'm gonna hang up now," Silver finally said, his anger betraying him. I knew right from his defensive tone that I'd hit the nail right on the head. "And you're going to forget everything you just said because you don't know crap about me." He made a disgusted noise, losing a bit of his dignity at the end. "Call me tomorrow morning. We'll work something out."

I grinned as I hung up the phone. Good to know that Silver was still as pleasant as ever.


	6. Chapter 6

**Thanks so much to everyone who reviewed! It motivates me to knock out the next chapter! :) This chappie is dedicated to Favored for her idea about Julia and Lyra's Pokemon. And, yeah, that's pretty much it. This is more of a filler chapter before the action, but, I hope you all enjoy! :p**

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I was always an early morning riser. I think that's part of the reason why Lance and I always got along so well. The feeling of rising with the sun had a ritualistic sense about it. I was a disciplined person and I think that's why I felt I had to do all this once things went to hell with my mother. I had to control the situation and it was far from being controlled. It was still far from it, but at least I was doing something about it.

"Lyra, go back to sleep," Ethan muttered, clearly only partially awake. His now blonde hair (which he was extremely unhappy about) was all mussed up to the side, creating a very attractive bedhead.

"Oh, so you're awake," I stated from where I was grooming Cav, who enjoyed his occasional freshen-up very much. "Might as well stay awake. We're gonna be on the move soon."

"Where are we going?" Ethan asked in mild interest.

I scratched Cav right under the chin, where he loved it the most. "We're heading for the League building."

"Why is that?" Ethan actually sat up in his sleeping bag. Apparently I had gotten his attention. "But, uh, isn't that the last place you want to go? Lance is there and he's, you know, your, er, friend. Plus, there's the entire Elite Four, who could recognize you as well and- how the heck are you going to even get in?"

"Silver," I explained simply, which put Ethan into a mood.

"You know I'm not a big fan of Silver," Ethan commented. "And I think I've been pretty good about this whole 'him helping you thing'. But, can we really trust him?"

"He's gotten us this far," I patted Cav on the head as he bobbed his head happily. "I don't see the logic in not trusting him now."

"I suppose you have a point," Ethan mused. "But you know that I don't trust him."

"Yes, Ethan, I know," I answered, standing up. "But honestly, who do you trust?"

"You," Ethan replied, grinning. As soon as I opened my mouth to protest that I didn't count, he cut me off. "More than you, Ms. Big Head. Lance too. He's a good guy." I nodded, realizing that I felt the same way. The two people I trusted the most in this world weren't my family, but they were as good as that. Julia? She wouldn't even make the top 25.

"Well, you guys are pretty funny when you talk about Dragon Pokemon," I grinned, starting to pack up our things. "Half of the stuff that comes out of your mouth, I don't even understand."

"It's professor stuff," Ethan retorted airily, using his superior tone. "Don't fret your little brain over it."

I rolled my eyes, taking out my Pokegear and dialing Silver. I had to wait a few rings before he picked up. "Oh, hey cuz," he said loudly, then paused. I kept silent, realizing he couldn't talk right now. "Sorry, now's not a good time. Could I call you back later?"

"You'd better," I growled quietly. He wasn't going to dodge his way out of this one.

"Definitely," he answered, toning it down a bit now that I'd gotten the point that he couldn't set up anything right now. "I really want you to come for a visit soon too." Another pause. "Okay, talk to you later." And he hung up.

I grumbled to myself. "Was it at least a legitimate dodge?" Ethan asked curiously.

"I don't know," I retorted honestly. "It could be. But it could just be Silver putting me off. Who knows? But let's get moving. I'm not going to waste any more time here."

* * *

**Later in the day**

I was currently standing around the back of the League building, having traveled over here from Ethan and I's spot outside of Viridian City. We had (luckily) been able to skip Victory Road by taking a route through the woods instead. I did not want to go in a cave at this point. I was not a fan of being enclosed. However, it was currently 3:00 pm and I still had not received a call from Silver, which was killing me.

Looking at the building, I found it hard to believe that I had come around full circle. My whole journey had been a circle, actually. Nothing but running around from spot to spot as I tried to find out what was going on in my life and keep Ethan safe at the same time. It was tiring, I realized, but I was glad I had Ethan. If not to keep myself from going completely crazy.

Getting into the Pokemon League Building was another story. There were people I knew there. People who I had worked with for the last three years who very likely could recognize me. It was going to be tricky, but I had to do it. I had to talk to Red.

"Earth to Lyra," Ethan snapped his fingers on front of my face, jerking me out of my reverie. "Got a plan yet?"

"Yeah," I answered grimly. "Call Silver."

Ethan rolled his eyes. "For goodness sake, Lyra, you know he's probably just dodging you. He's one of those guys, you know. The ones who can only do things for you without payment for so long."

"Oh, I'm paying him," I retorted absentmindedly, dialing his number on my Pokegear. "He's getting what he wants."

Ethan looked up at me, startled. "What?" I realized that I had told him that Silver was helping me, but not why.

I put a hand over the speaker, explaining and knowing that Ethan was gonna go off the wall about this. "I'm not going to reclaim my Champion spot after this."

"You what?" He asked, apparently not hearing me correctly, his face the picture of disbelief. Here came the lecture. The lecture about how it never was good to make a deal like that with someone like Silver and that, how could I give up everything I had ever worked for. There was more to life than Championship though.

"I stepped down for good, okay?" I snapped, not wanting to deal with his evaluation of my personal decisions. "End of discussion. I had to do what I had to do. Can we please leave it at that?"

Ethan recoiled, not used to me snapping at him. "Okay." He said simply. "I won't ask."

"Thank you," I replied, taking a deep breath and leaving it at that. The phone continued to ring and Silver was not picking up. Finally, it went to voicemail, and I was not leaving a voicemail on his Pokegear to accidently be heard by some snooping person. I hoped just the fact that he would recognize my number and know that I had called again would be enough to scare the socks off him. Suicune, this guy was just pissing me off right now.

Ethan didn't say anything, but his look said it all. "Don't say it," I growled at him, putting my Pokegear away for the moment.

"I wasn't going to say anything," Ethan retorted innocently.

I adjusted my hat nervously. Here I was, outside the one building that I would be recognized the most in, relying on butthead Silver to contact me to go on a practical suicide mission (at least identity-wise) into the most concentrated area of amazing trainers anywhere. I was crazy for even thinking about this.

"No, Melissa, goodness no," I heard a familiar-sounding voice say from around the corner of the building. I grabbed Ethan, pulling him back behind some foliage with me. Luckily, the area around the actually Elite Four building was pretty woodsy so we had a good place to hide.

"Well, I'll be working with my sister's Pokemon," the voice purred yet again and I immediately knew who it was just as she turned the corner. She was just as put together and pretty as ever as she chatted on her phone idly, obviously not mourning too much over my death.

Next, I heard that cute little giggle that I so obviously recognized as my sister's. "My favorite is the Espeon. She's so cute."

I looked over at Ethan, who was miming gagging. As I may have mentioned before, he doesn't like Julia very much. With good reason. I suppressed a giggle, even though giggles weren't really my thing. Ethan just cracked me up sometimes.

"Well, I really have to go, Mel. Gotta train, ya know." There was a pause as Ethan stopping his gagging and looked fairly disinterested. "Yeah, I want to try coordinating now. I think I could be pretty good at it."

An eye-roll from Ethan. "Kay, bye!" Julia finished, hanging up her phone. Then I saw her pull out a Pokeball and release whatever Pokemon was in it. It turned out that it was Sasha. My Sasha. I grit my teeth, watching as my sister trained with my Pokemon.

It was actually pretty entertaining. My sister already was hilarious to watch with her Pokemon, just because she was such a beauty queen. However, it was even more hilarious to see her with Pokemon that didn't listen to her.

"Espeon, use Swift!"

Sasha simply yawned loudly, not moving.

"Okay, then, use Psychic!"

This time Sasha decided to lay down, resting her head on her paws and even giving her trademark eye-roll. I'd never met a Pokemon who did that besides Sasha. She was so smart that she picked up on human actions and incorporated them into her own. She may not have the best defense, but she was crafty.

"Um, well, maybe just Confusion?"

No response besides Sasha closing her eyes.

"Arceus, what other moves do Espeon have anyway?" My sister was quite frazzled by now. Her eyebrows went down as she thought. "Reflect?"

Sasha's ear twitched, so I knew that she was at least still awake.

Julia threw a mini-fit as the Espeon laying in front of her as Sasha didn't even flinch. "Stupid Espeon, goddamn it! What is your problem?" She then proceeded to yell the moves louder, as if that would help. Ethan was cracking up beside me and it wasn't long before I had to join in.

That was when Sasha's head shot up, her eyes trained on where Ethan and I were hiding. Julia immediately got excited, as if it had been something she had done that had elicited a response from the Psychic-type. However, I knew it was different.

I couldn't let Sasha ruin my cover. She was smart enough to figure out what was going on and her psychic powers would let her know that it was me. If it had been Tank or Bellona, I wouldn't have been as worried, but Sasha was different. For that small, heart-stopping moment, the two of us almost seemed to lock eyes. I don't know if she could see me or not, but I was sure she could sense me.

She stared at us for another few seconds, narrowed her eyes, and then went back to taking her nap. I gave a sigh of relief. That was a close call. Ethan and I had been caught out in the open and had managed to stay hidden. Thank Suicune that hadn't gone bad.

Ten minutes later, after Julia tried every variation of every move she could think of, my older sister finally decided to throw in the towel, albeit grudgingly. She did some stomping and frowning, but she recalled Sasha and stalked off somewhere else, most likely to reapply her make-up.

Ethan burst out laughing as soon as she left. When he was able to breathe, he grinned broadly at me. "Oh, I wish I had that on video. I really wish I did. That is classic Julia."

"Yeah, I bet you enjoyed that," I grinned wryly, my mind still returning to the fact that Silver still hadn't called me back.

Ethan finally seemed to trail off, still grinning. "Yup. And don't ruin my fun just because you are way too tightly wound."

"I just wish he would call me," I answered absentmindedly, trying to think of a plan if he didn't.

Literally a second after I said that, my Pokegear rang. I answered it a bit too eagerly, but I was getting desperate. "Yes?"

"Entei, could you be any more pathetic?" I never thought I'd be happier to hear Silver's dry voice. "Have you been staring at your Pokegear the whole time, waiting for me to call you back?"

"No, Silver," I retorted in slight irritation. "Now do you actually have a reason for calling or are you just messing with me?"

"You are such a pain, Kotone. Tell me where you are so I can meet you. I've got a plan."


	7. Chapter 7

**So… Hey guys. It's been a while. :P A long while. But, thanks to some encouraging from Qi Okami (who I'd like to dedicate this chapter to :p ), I finally got this next chapter written. It's a real doozy, so get ready! Although I would've liked it a bit longer, I gotta go with what I write, ya know? **

**Cool. Enjoy!**

* * *

Silver came about fifteen minutes later, carrying a knapsack in his hand. "Ah, you come bringing gifts," I grinned, feeling much better now that we actually had a plan.

"Nothing good," Silver answered flatly, taking out what looked like clothes. "A change of outfit for you, Kotone, seeing as you probably stink."

"Thanks, Silver," I replied with fake enthusiasm. That's just the way you had to play it with Silver sometimes. Be so insanely happy and bubbly that he just went crazy. Then, you could occasionally get past his overpowering cynicism.

Silver just shot me a look that let me know he thought I was weird, moving on to the unusually quiet Ethan. The Pokemon professor-in-training had his arms crossed and was looking at Silver crossly. As soon as Silver laid eyes on the kid, he blinked a few times, looking taken aback.

"What?" Ethan asked angrily, his eyebrows drawn down.

"I'm sorry," Silver shrugged calmly, handing Ethan a new, navy blue hat. "Can you please cover up that hair? It practically blinded me."

Ethan frowned, jamming the hat down on his blonde head. I could see the red creeping up to his ears, signaling that he was most definitely a bit embarrassed. "Lyra made me, okay?"

"Way to keep your manhood," Silver answered cynically as I glared at him. Ethan just made a very childish face back at the red-head, obviously just trying to get on his nerves. Suicune, why couldn't either of them ever be the bigger person and move past this apparent vendetta they have against each other? Stupid boys…

"Silver. Not necessary," I shook my head, sending him a look. "And Ethan, stop. You look like a deranged Mankey. Can't you guys just get along for now? It's kinda important."

"He's the one who started it," Ethan complained, quick to point fingers.

Silver rolled his eyes at Ethan's juvenile claims. "I just can't deal with this kid's pansy ass. Couldn't you just have locked him up in a closet somewhere?"

"Hey! At least I've been here for Lyra instead of dodging her calls!"

"Please, I've done more for Kotone in the past three days than you have in your entire life. What do you do? Whine to her!"

"Both of you, SHUT UP!" I raised my voice as high as I dared, stomping my foot. They both, thankfully, shut up, so I continued. "Silver, you and I will do this together. Is it okay if Ethan stays at your house for the next few hours? I really want him somewhere safe."

Ethan immediately started to protest. "Ly, I told you that you can't get rid of me that easy! I want to help. I'm not a two-year-old."

"No, but ever since I extracted you from Team Rocket's deathly grip and alerted half the town that something was going on, you've become my responsibility, Ethan. Second, this is my battle. I make the decisions. Third, it's easier to sneak in one person than two. Got it?"

Ethan frowned unhappily, but relented. "If that's what you want, Lyra."

I didn't quite tell him the true reason, which was mostly that I didn't want him caught out with me. If he was to get in trouble or get hurt because of what I was doing… I just couldn't bear it. Especially after what my fame and meddling did to my mother. He's the best guy I'd ever know. I wasn't dragging him into the middle of the fray.

"Okay," Silver said, looking quite smug with the fact that Ethan had been put in his place. "Now. Here's the plan. Kotone, you're my cousin."

"Do you even have any cousins?" I asked critically. Somehow, the idea of Silver and family didn't mix. I knew that he never had a very enjoyable childhood and he just didn't seem the family type.

"Yes," Silver answered, acting like he was offended that I even asked. "I have plenty of family, actually."

"And how many do you talk to?"

Silver shot me a glare and I knew I had caught him. "If you want to waste your time talking about my personal life, by all means, go ahead. Otherwise, I think we've got some work to do."

I grinned at him wickedly. "Lead the way."

* * *

I was entering the Salamance's den.

My palms were strangely sweaty.

The lobby still looked the same. I don't know why I expected it to look different, but I did. Some part of my mind looked at the place I used to call home and was confused by it still being unchanged. Although I was "gone", life went on. It was a scary thought.

Silver breezily walked right by everyone, headed for the back door that led to the east wing of the building. East wing was the core of the League building, where we kept all our technological gizmos and operations machines. It also served as a starting base for all our out-going Champion missions, which often involved Team Rocket, Team Galactic, or other such organizations. It wasn't our destination, but we had to pass through it to get there.

My movements were jerky and uncoordinated and Silver noticed. "Kotone, loosen up and pull it together before you screw us both over." He muttered to me, not really helping the matter. I had to trust my disguise, but the key to the plan was also to stay away from certain people. The Dragon Master was the obvious one. However, another risk was Will, whose psychic "sixth-sense" was much too unpredictable. Karen I could deal with, but she was shrewder than the rest.

Luckily, we made it without any issue. Silver blatantly ignored everyone around him (as he always did), while I occasionally smiled at a few people but mainly kept my head down. Connected to the east wing was the north wing, the living quarters for the Elite Four and Champions. Still no one. This was too good to be true. My forehead creased in consternation. Yes, it was too good to be true. That saying alone usually raised suspicion. But I couldn't worry about that right now. If there was an issue, I'd take it in stride.

Silver looked up and down the hall. "Now time to get Lance out of here." He shoved me into a janitor's closet fifteen feet from the door to Lance's quarters. I left the door slightly open, but didn't dare to look through as Silver knocked on his door.

Lance's irritated "What?" sounded from inside. I flexed one of my hands, realizing how sweaty they were.

"Koga and Will are at it again!" Silver answered loudly. This was actually a good method of distraction because it was likely that they were at each other's throats at the moment. Koga had seniority, so he was put after Will in the pecking order, but Will's Psychic types had beaten Koga's Poison a few times because they had the advantage. Will felt he should be higher up on the totem pole. Koga felt Will should shut up because Will was younger. Hence, the arguing.

The door opened and I heard his footsteps, my heart beating in my throat.

A sigh. "Those two drive me crazy. Okay, thanks for letting me know."

"Yeah, whatever," was Silver's bored response.

Footsteps receded and Silver passed by my hiding spot casually, looking like he was walking away at least until Lance turned the corner, I assumed. He waited a few more seconds, listening as Lance's footsteps grew more inaudible. "Okay, let's go," he muttered, coming back and pulling me out of the closet. "This is crazy, you know."

"Yeah," I nodded impatiently. "Whatever."

Exactly what Silver had said not twenty seconds ago. Please, Mew, do not tell me that this is turning me into him. But it didn't matter to me right now because Silver did that scary lock-picking thing that he did and we were inside the living quarters of the dragon master.

I had been in here quite a few times for breakfast after training (Lance liked to show off his cooking skills, one thing he was better than me at), but I hadn't the faintest idea as to where to look for Red. The only place I thought of would be his bedroom. It was situated to the rear of his living quarters and was sufficiently private enough that people would think twice before barging in. It was obviously the most reasonable choice.

I took off for his bedroom, not giving Silver any warning. "Hey, Kotone, wait," he scowled as he followed after me. Why did he insist on sticking so close to me? Why did he seem out of character right now?

I burst into the bedroom, feeling like this was extremely important to see. There was something I was missing. Something didn't fit. What was going on?

It was empty.

"Sorry, Kotone."

When did Silver ever say sorry?

I turned to get my lights knocked out and everything went black.

* * *

The first thing I was conscious of was that I had a throbbing headache.

"Mrffff," I mumbled into the pillow, voice muffled. Wait, a pillow?

I sat up a bit too quickly, my head spinning. I recognized that I was still in Lance's bedroom, just that I was in his bed now. My mind struggled to catch up with me, to remember exactly what it was that had happened and why. It especially couldn't understand the why, but I could remember… Silver. The dickhead. I was gonna kill him. What the heck? I thought I could trust him and I couldn't and what the heck was even going on?

All I knew was that Red was not here and I was currently in Lance's bedroom after an hour or so (actually, I don't even know how long because the clock seemed to be broken) of being knocked out.

I got up carefully, wondering if Lance was in here right now. Maybe he wasn't. Maybe he never came back. Maybe I could sneak out of here right now and no one would be the wiser. Then I could find Silver, kick him in the balls, and let him know that whatever deal we had was off, the little motherf-

I snuck out of the room right into a pale orange blob and promptly stumbled backwards. I looked up. It was a very familiar looking Dragonite guarding the door. My gaze quickly flicked around the rest of the room, but a familiar red-headed dragon master was nowhere to be seen. Thank Mew.

"Hey, Dragonite," I reached up on my tip-toes to pat him on the snout as he crinkled his eyes happily. "I'm happy to see you and all, but I gotta get out of here before anyone, especially your master, sees me. Got it?"

I started to walk toward the exit, but Dragonite made a huffing noise behind me. I turned. "What?"

He shook his head.

I comprehended what he was doing in a flash. He was my babysitter. I didn't have to wait long. The door opened on its own.

I was looking right into the Dragon Master's face.

"Lyra," he said shortly, painfully, and not without a myriad of emotions passing through his eyes. "I'm guessing we've got a lot to talk about."


	8. Chapter 8

**Okay! Next chapter! Also, it'll switch to Lance's pov for the last bit, so don't be uber confused. I'll put his name above it anyway, just to specify. And… yeah. I don't know if I like switching points of view, but I really wanted to include some Lance, so I overcame my hesitance. Let me know if you like it or not. I'm not going to do it too much, but I really liked the scene. So… Yay!**

* * *

I backed up, still stunned that he even knew anything. I had tried so hard to run from this place, to run from him, and here he was. My first reaction was fear- fear that I'd have to face him and everything else that I had turned my back on.

I didn't give him a chance to try anything. I bolted.

I tried to slip by him through the door, between his body and the frame, and it's safe to assume that I didn't get far. I wasn't thinking straight, I was running away, just like I had three days ago when I set off to find my mom's killers. I was just running for the sake of it because there was little to keep me back.

He trapped me between the door frame and his body, leg stuck out so that I couldn't force my way through, and I struggled against him, hitting him with anything I could. "Lyra, stop it," he growled, pushing me back. "Goddamn it, you're not getting out of here yet."

I actually took a swing at him, not thinking, but he just caught my fist with his hand and effectively blocked my punch. I stood there, wondering where any of that fighting had just come from, then looked into his face to see narrowed eyes.

"I asked you to promise me one thing."

I flinched. His hand was still gripping my fist and wouldn't budge as I made a hesitant attempt to move back. It wasn't painful (somehow I knew that, no matter how pissed he was, Lance would never hurt me), but I couldn't get away either.

"I asked you not to go after them on your own. And I usually have good reason for asking things like that."

Cornered as I was, I couldn't give into him. If he wanted to oppose me, then I'd fight him with everything I had.

"I did what I had to do," I answered, snarling as I attempted a punch with my other hand, which he blocked in the same method as the first.

"Really?" He asked, eyes hard as flint. "So that's your reasoning?"

"Yup," I replied, straining against him a tiny bit to see if he'd move. He didn't budge. "And you're just pissed that I left you out of it. Can't keep a Dragon Master out of the loop, huh? Cause you always get what you want."

But that wasn't the case, was it? Lance hadn't been out of the loop. My bet was that he knew from the beginning and had me watched.

"But you-" I continued, my mind working furiously to process how he knew. "You knew all along what I was doing, didn't you? You played with me, letting me think that I was on my own, when you really were watching me the whole time. You watched me run around on some big crusade to save my soul and then pulled me back into the fold like some unruly child. Just because I hadn't included you in what I wanted to do with _my_ life."

He snorted, looking away. "Because you were doing so well on your own."

"Well, if you hadn't turned Silver against me-"

Silver," Lance cut in contemptuously, voice tightly reined in by anger, as he let go of my hands, perhaps noticing that we were too close. I had, not a few seconds ago. Or maybe he just thought I was done punching. "Why would you ask Silver to help you with something like this? Why would you think that Silver would give a shit whether you lived or died, Lyra? Why wouldn't you ask me?"

I could sense the betrayal in his voice and I tried not to let it get to me. He wasn't done yet though.

"I wanted to help you. No, I begged you to let me help you," his brown eyes were strangely dangerous now, but they only made me absentmindedly realize how familiar they were. "I am all for getting Rocket back for what they did, but what you're doing is stupid and dangerous."

This was my Lance. I was fighting and arguing and hitting and kicking the Dragon Tamer that had always ever wanted to help me.

Goddamn it, there were no time for regrets now.

"I asked Silver for that very reason. You're right. He doesn't give a shit about me. But at least he listens and does what I need him to do regardless of stupid emotional ties."

_That was cold_, I reflected. But the guilt on my mind whispered, _You killed her, you killed her, and maybe if you get him involved, you'll kill him too. _Ethan was already in hiding and my mother dead because of me. Couldn't I stop before anyone else got hurt?

Because Lance wasn't like Silver. Lance was a romantic, a sucker for words and images, thinking that he could do anything, but not seeing the facts. He always wanted to be the hero, but this was a fairy tale with no room for glory. It almost made me sad to remember that and I wasn't quite sure why.

"Stupid emotional ties, huh?" He repeated, almost bitterly.

"Yes," I answered firmly, not sensing the danger.

"The same stupid emotional ties that made me care enough about you to find out what happened to you," he said furiously, voice shaking. "Or made you worried enough to check in on Ethan. Or made you pissed enough to leave everything behind to find your mom's killers. Everyone has those ties, even Silver."

I had no response to that.

"All this length you went to, it's all for nothing. What you do when you finally find them is all that matters. And nothing you can do will make you feel any less pain than before."

His unspoken question also asked: If this is what you want, then can you kill to achieve it?

His voice was bitterly truthful and only made me feel more frustrated. I would do whatever it took to get rid of that pain, that blame. I could erase this hurt. I would clear this guilt on my mind, the one that whispered, _you killed her. Maybe not on purpose, maybe you didn't pull the trigger, but your meddling ended her life, one way or another._

There had to be a way to find redemption for myself, somewhere out there. Lance was always too soft for his own good- and foolish, trying to get me to back down now. I wouldn't be tricked by him and his words- the ones he could so artfully twist to pull anyone into seeing things his way. He was so charismatic- even to someone who knew him like me.

I liked the facts. I liked order. And something told me that an eye for an eye made sense. The proportional response, right?

But what about the disproportionate response? What about the fist of a mighty trainer coming crashing down on your head, because, Mew forbid the person who attacks the loved ones of Lyra Kotone, possibly the most powerful trainer in all of Kanto and Johto. What about coming back with tenfold the damage? That was what I wanted. That was what would make the most sense, given the situation, and that was the havoc I wanted to inflict on Team Rocket.

My eyes rose to meet his. "You can't stop me, Lance."

My words floated on the air, a softly spoken ultimatum that neither of us could stomach. Here it was. Are you with me or against me?

His jaw tensed, eyes level with my own, and I sensed his rising frustration. We were at a crossroads. I was offering for him to help me now, saying that if that was what he really wanted- if that was what he went to all this trouble to do- then I'd take his help. I'd let him in.

But I really knew that it was just too late. His pride would never let him help me now, besides the fact that I didn't deserve it.

"I won't," he finally answered, fists tightening. "I won't stop you. But neither will I help you."

I took a breath, ignoring the slight pain in my chest.

"If you want to be on your own, fine. But don't expect any help from me or any help from Silver. And I'll be taking care of Ethan now. Do this by yourself. I'm not letting you take anyone else down with you."

I almost couldn't breathe after that. If I knew anything about the Dragon Master, he wasn't done tracking me. He would lie to himself and lie to me, but he would follow what I did, listening for any sound of me, until he'd take himself down with me, even unintentionally. This thing between us wasn't done yet, not by a long shot. Not until I was safe or dead.

"Okay," I answered simply, actually feeling better now that Ethan would be taken care of. I knew that Lance couldn't report that he'd found him or else Rocket would know right where to come looking for him. Still, he could hide him and keep him safe for the time being. If anything, that was helping me by taking a burden off my mind.

Lance crossed his arms as I pointed to the doors which lead to the balcony. "I'll go out this way."

He shrugged. "Fine with me."

I wished there was something I could say that could smooth things over, make us less conflicted, but nothing came to mind. I was just going to have to live with the fact that things were going to be different now. I wondered, vaguely, if he suspected that I wasn't coming back after this. After all, a dead champion can't come back to life.

I turned to go.

"Ly?"

I half-turned back, solidly meeting his unreadable eyes. "There's a storm moving in tonight. Find shelter before it hits."

It was a peace offering, but like I said before, sometimes it's just too late. "Yeah," I answered. "Thanks."

And I left.

* * *

**Lance**

After she went, I stood in the same spot for a good five minutes.

I couldn't do it. Not even me, with my naïve beliefs and persuasive words, could get her to back down. Not even me. She was hurting too badly.

Dragonite finally broke me out of my trance, nudging my head with his snout. I absentmindedly rubbed him behind the ear, eyebrows drawn down in thought. "Will you-"

The yellow dragon pokemon snorted, already leaving for the balcony. I hesitated.

"Just for tonight, Dragonite. The storm and all, I'd just rather- Don't let her see you-"

He was already gone and I was talking to thin air. I sighed, wondering where this world had come to, and grabbed my keys from the counter. Now that I'd failed at that, time to go to the meeting spot and see what I could salvage from all this.

I went to a bar, and a run-down one at that- a place that no one would expect two Champions to meet up. That was the point. I wanted to attract as little attention as possible to myself.

I sat at the bar, ordering a drink, and waited. The drink was more for show than anything, but I couldn't deny that the burning alcohol flushing through my system did numb the whole situation at least a little bit.

A few minutes later, another guy sat down next to me, ordering himself something as well. In fact, he glowered at me as he leaned a chin on his hand, looking grumpy, as usual.

"So?"

I looked down, speaking quietly and casually so as to not attract too much attention. "I told her she's on her own."

"Hm. Pretty cold, huh, Wataru?"

I shot him a sharp glance. "You'd better watch out. It's you she probably wants to kill first."

Silver made a sour face, scowling. "Well, you're quite the blackmailer. Couldn't tell it by your sanctimonious ideals, but you're apparently not afraid to play dirty."

I took a sip of my drink, ignoring his comment. "Ethan still doing okay at your house?"

"Eh," the red-head answered neutrally. "The professor wants to know what the hell is going on and I can't blame him. He knows Kotone's walked into a trap by now and he's awfully loyal."

I let myself briefly wonder how the heck I was going to deal with Ethan Hibiki, but I let it go for now. A problem for the morning. "Red?"

"He's doing fine," the other champion replied, looking around the establishment idly. "Hasn't said much though. Not much of a talker, that kid, is he?"

I knew that everything was going to come to a head eventually, but I wondered how long it would take Lyra to figure out where to look for Rocket's base. Just the thought left me wishing I had caved back there and agreed to help her, even if it was just to keep her from getting herself killed. She was the strongest out of all of us Champions, but that didn't make her invincible.

Plus, I still hated that she thought so little of what she had done. Contrary to what she had thought, I had not known that she was alive the whole time. She thought that she only had responsibility for physical harm and was letting that fact consume her so much that she didn't see the other damage that she was doing.

"We done?"

I nodded, mentally reminding myself to visit Silver's tomorrow morning to talk to both Ethan and Red. There were things that needed to be sorted out.

"Well, Wataru," Silver sighed as he got up, leaving his drink unfinished. "I hope she's worth it."

He was gone before I could answer.

Before I left, I finished my drink, thinking on what he had said. I muttered to myself the response.

"She always is."


	9. Chapter 9

**So I don't love the way this chapter ended up, but it is an update and I have been RIDICULOUSLY busy, so I'm gonna go with it. Besides, I've actually planned out the rest of the story (le gasp) and it's looking like a total of around 20 chapters, maybe? 20-25, anyway. I don't know, we'll have to see. I get very off-topic sometimes and may deviate a bit.**

**Anyway, this isn't bad, so I hope you guys enjoy it. Thanks for your support, despite the fact that I have been very bad with my updating. Xp **

**In case I don't post again before Thanksgiving, Happy Turkey Day! :D**

The storm came in not long after I settled in.

By the time I left the League building, it was pitch black dark and starting to sprinkle. Seeing as Luke couldn't really fly in this weather anyway, I decided to find shelter as Lance had suggested. I found a cave near Victory Road that suited me well and I settled in nicely.

The obvious subject on my mind was my fight with Lance, but I tried to push that away, focusing on my current goal. I mused on what my next step should be. I knew there had been something interesting going on with Red, Blue, and Leaf when they got involved with Team Rocket, but that seemed to be a dead end. Who knows if Silver was lying about Red coming back just to lure me back to Lance. Blue didn't seem to be talking and Leaf was missing, so there was little to find there. Plus, if Lance could figure out I was still alive, I'm sure Team Rocket knew I was still alive and were looking for me, so I had to worry about that too.

I was drawn out of my musings by the thought that I was pretty uncomfortable and cold. Primarily on my mind was also the fact that I wanted a good night's sleep and so I let out Luke and Cav, who settled around me. Luke's tail did a particularly good job of warming me up as I rubbed my hands in front of it, letting out a sigh.

I leaned back against Cav. "You know, I was right to do what I did."

The two listened with attentive ears, although Luke's tail twitched, a sign equivalent of an eye roll. I frowned.

"Really. He has to understand that."

My megamanium nodded enthusiastically behind me while the fire dragon snorted, looking unconvinced.

"Well, this is stupid anyway, analyzing it like this," I huffed, getting in a more comfortable position as I closed my eyes. "And it's over now."

_I just wish I knew if I was right or not. If it was right to do any of this. Like Silver said, I'm going after them and that scares me a little. I already have seen what I can do without even meaning to. What am I capable of when I destroy with intent?_

But my doubts were silenced by my overwhelming need to get some sleep. It had been a tumultuous day and I was just about done with it. Before dozing off, I let out Gengar from his pokeball to keep watch (I'm fairly certain he didn't even sleep and he seemed fine with it). I was reminded that this was Silver's pokemon that I was using and I hated Silver right now, but that didn't matter. Gengar was still a good pokemon and I needed him for now. Silver at least owed me that much.

But, since my mother died, sleep never had been a very good friend to me. And so, I slipped away, but into a night of fitful dreams.

* * *

I awoke with a start, yet not knowing why.

Luke's head was up, eyes alert, while Cav still slept behind me. Suddenly, I realized that, even with Gengar guarding the entrance, they had taken turns sleep and keeping watch just to protect me. They were my last line of defense and on the front lines of my offense. I couldn't even imagine where I'd be without them.

The storm seemed to be at its peak outside and the wind howled mercilessly. I couldn't even see anything in the dark, but I could hear footsteps in the cave, to my right. Two, maybe three people, quiet as can be, but the cave was big enough that they weren't close enough to be in striking range yet.

They were here to kill me. The thought ran through my body like electricity, raising my hair on end. If Gengar hadn't woke me up silently (with Nightmare, I supposed, because I woke up sweating), I could easily be dead now.

But I had Luke as well. And while he may be somewhat useless out in the rain, he provided plenty of firepower here in the cave. I bared my teeth, my fighting reflex fired up. Let's see how well they could kill me when I was on the offensive.

"Flamethrower."

Luke tilted his head upwards, unleashing furled flames toward the top of the cave and lighting up the darkness for a few moments. I stood, tapping Cav next to me.

"Vine Whip."

In a few seconds, the two crooks were caught up in my Megamanium's vines. Gengar, who apparently liked to work solo, had already put their pokemon (a Magmar and Weezing) to sleep. In the flickering light, I couldn't spot any obvious sign that it was Team Rocket, but it was obvious that they were. I frowned. That was almost too easy.

That was when another flicker caught the outside of my line of sight.

Only Luke's body shielded me from the flamethrower launched my way from the right, deeper in the cave. They must have already been positioned (perhaps they had a ghost pokemon that helped them keep undetected) and that's why I didn't realize they were back there. Luke did, through, and his wings closed around me, keeping the flicking flames away. When he opened them, I knew I had to run for outside. I didn't know how many of them there were or what their assets were, but if they had a fire pokemon, I knew the storm would weaken it. I ran.

As I did, I returned Luke to his pokeball and snapped for Cav and Gengar. Grabbing my backpack, I sprinted for the pouring rain.

It pounded at me as I gasped slightly, shivering a bit at the chill. Still, I knew my third pursuer couldn't be far behind, and the other two would be recovering by now. My heart was pounding in my throat, but I wasn't panicking. As a Champion, I simply had to have a cool head. This was just like a battle situation. Strategy. Think of a strategy.

I had to turn and face them. Perhaps this was even the golden opportunity that I needed, seeing as I was already contemplating luring a Rocket member in. Maybe this was it. All I needed was one of them and I could get the info that I needed. Once I made it to the woods, I ducked behind a nearby bush, waiting. They would come through soon enough. I kept Cav and Gengar out, but motioned for Gengar to check out what was happening. If they had a ghost pokemon (as I had suspected), they could find out my hiding spot beforehand instead of blundering on through.

But, luckily, they were more worried about me getting away and didn't exercise the caution that they obviously should have. Gengar took out the Misdreavus and his master with a well-aimed Shadow Ball while Cav's vines twisted around the first of the pursuers. I went for the second, but he had already slid in the mud and was turning tail to run, so I let him go. I had the one that I wanted.

He was looking stone-faced at me, but as soon as I took a step toward him, he flinched. I had him. The rain bit into me, wind cut across my face, and mud plastered the lower part of my body from hiding behind the bush. Standing directly in front of him, I narrowed my eyes and spoke, fire running through my blood. I had won. I was the victor and he had to acquiesce to that or suffer the consequences. I wanted my information and, by Entei, I was going to get it.

"Who do you work for, Rocket?"

He spit in my face. I kept my calm.

"Okay, that's the way you want to play. Let's see how well my Bayleef's vines can break legs. Start with the right?"

Despite Cav's generally calm complexion, I could feel his rage like we were the same entity. _No one attacks my trainer, no one tries to kill my trainer, no one hurts her, after all she's been through and she's mine to protect-_

I almost couldn't breathe at the feeling of his fierceness. And it showed as a vine curled around the right leg of the Rocket in a menacing way and I wondered what I was doing to my own Pokemon. It was the first feeling of uneasiness through my mask of power. Was I corrupting them as I had been? Was this something they wanted too? Was I twisting them with my own thoughts of revenge?

And for a second, I almost thought that he was going to do it and I almost thought that I was going to let him. I wouldn't, right? I wouldn't tell Cav to do that. But the Rocket stopped me far before that.

"Wait. It's not me you want."

I was silent. The vine kept squeezing.

"Stop! Stop, I'll tell you!"

I saw flames, dancing before my eyes, and the eyes of my mother. I was grasping for some sort of image as I realized the power I had at my hands. The power of another living, breathing creature that would do exactly as I told him too. I tried to grasp the significance of this feeling, but I couldn't. I couldn't figure out exactly what it was-

"Please! Stop! I'll tell you everything!"

Startled and brought back to my senses, I waved my hand. Cav backed down.

The man was babbling now as he looked at me, the insane picture that I made. "I was briefed at the Sevii Islands. The orders came from an unknown admin, I don't know who. There was a ship that I was on. That's all I know. Please, let me go."

I nodded, not even registering the panic in his voice. I didn't even notice when he was gone, but Cav knew to let him go. My back against a tree, I sat in anguish, my hands shaking. I was threatening people with the retribution of my Pokemon now. I was using my Pokemon for bad. I was using them to hurt people.

I curled my hand into a fist and found that I didn't have any tears to cry. Only frustration at my own failure to accomplish anything. I walked around in circles for the last week. I walked in circles until my feet hurt and until Ethan was kidnapped and until Lance hated me and until Silver turned on me. I walked and walked and walked and did nothing. And now that I had information, I could do nothing but sit here and fear who I was becoming.

All of a sudden, I was sheltered from the rain. I looked up to see the big orange snout of Dragonite and, for once, I didn't mind the meddling of the ever-present Dragon Tamer. Right now, it was just nice to know that someone still cared about me. And so I spent the next few moments scratching under the dragon-type's chin while he nudged me anxiously, making sure I wasn't hurt. Dragonite still cared. Lance still cared.

I had to move on from what had happened here. Besides, he had come at me first and it was only natural that I defend myself. That Cav defend me. These "visitors" were only the beginning. They were easy prey once the tables had been turned, so I doubted any real brain had carefully thought this plan out beforehand. This was still amateur hour and I had to be ready for the big stuff. I was okay. I had to pull myself together, find a different place to move out to, and keep moving. Head to Sevii Islands. Find out if there's truth to what he said. Keep moving, that's all I could do.

And, as I readied myself to go and patted Dragonite on the nose before I left, I couldn't shake the image of the twisting vines and Cav's thoughts as they swirled around me. The true loyalty of a Pokemon.

It could be the end of him.


End file.
